Some WY advice

[duckaholic]

We are going to be planning our first western diy hunt for 2017 speed goat in WY. No preference points and we will be looking to camp. Preferably a free area but a pay area if have to. Given these parameters where would you suggest we start looking or that we try and draw for?

 

[wyowinchester]

There is a ban on camping on STATE owned land. You can camp on BLM and FOREST SERVICE property. The pay would be for a camp ground on FS or in a town near the area you draw to hunt.
Too get much deeper in the info for you, more information on where you are going will help.

 

[duckaholic]

Im not sure where we are going. Or try and apply for. We have no points to use. I would somewhere that has decent draw odds and also public land. Don't need alot but as long as its enough!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

You have 5+ months to do your homework before you have to apply. Look over the draw odds on the F&G website to find the few units you can draw with no PPs and that have either some accessible public ground, WIHAs, or HMAs in those two Public Access Programs to hunt on. Camping other than on state land will be the least of your problems. Take a look at the units east of I-25 for what you want.

 

[duckaholic]

Thanks for the info guys! I want to get a jump on it early as we can for planning! Do you know when the deadline will be to apply for the draw? I looked on site but couldn't see it. I do plan to print the draw odds tomorrow. Then how to make heads or tails of it.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

1/31/17 for elk and 5/31/17 for antelope and deer applications and they have to be done online, so first you'll have to go into the site and set up an account for each person.

 

[Paparock]

Let me tell you about a little trick you can pull on antelope to get closer to them. If the terrain is cut with washes that will allow you to gain ground on Pronghorn or for that matter folds in the land always "turn your back to the antelope as you go down into any terrain feature that will make you disappear from the antelopes sight". Now that may not seem like an important thing but it will allow you to keep the antelope a lot calmer and to get closer to them.

I found out over trial and error that when I went out of sight facing them they would often not be where they were when I checked on their location again as they had spooked after I disappeared facing them. How do I know? I had my wife watching them from a high vantage point. I talked to some very experienced Prairie Goat hunters and they gave me the advice I am passing on to you and it worked every time. I was then able to get within a hundred yards by using the folds and washes in the terrain in Wyoming. Those 7 power binocular eyes of theirs and their spooky nature can be defeated by using the terrain and some patients. Good hunting everyone.

I did all of my hunting northwest and southwest out of Casper, Wyoming. I never got a Boone and Crockett "speed goat" but I have one that missed "the book" by "2" points and "shot over the back" (northwest of Casper same area as 2" short of book goat) of one that would have made the book easy and the last time I saw him he was running west so his young I am sure are there to be harvested. We did not have range finders like today.

 

[duckaholic]

I've heard things have changed over the past couple years. What are the chances of drawing out without points? Im wondering if I need to start planning a backup hunt in an poo their state or for another species.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I've heard things have changed over the past couple years. What are the chances of drawing out without points? Im wondering if I need to start planning a backup hunt in an poo their state or for another species.

Just go down the Random Draw odds and it will be easy for you to see what units had more tags than applicants. Then do what I said and check to see what ones have accessible public land (those without * by them in the 2017 hunting booklet that is now on the website) and if they have land under either of the two public access programs I mentioned.

 

[duckaholic]

I know beggars cannot be choosers but I'm guessing that if there are more tags then first choices then it would be there's no goats or no public land typically?

 

[duckaholic]

I did print the zone map, draw odds, and the harvest report today to take home and review.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I know beggars cannot be choosers but I'm guessing that if there are more tags then first choices then it would be there's no goats or no public land typically?

Incorrect! Do your homework. There are a decent number of goats in every unit and will be next year barring terrible weather between now and next summer. Also, don't worry about harvest stats as a newbie because there are a number of different things that enter into it. The only thing that will keep you from going out there and not getting a goat is if you don't get out of your truck or can't shoot.

 

[duckaholic]

We definitely are not scared to walk!! I had heard the numbers were down and chances of being drawn without points were slim to none. Would that be incorrect?

 

[Topgun 30-06]

We definitely are not scared to walk!! I had heard the numbers were down and chances of being drawn without points were slim to none. Would that be incorrect?

Yes, that would be incorrect!